A TEACHER who became the first person in Wales to have a pancreas transplant has spoken about how her health – and life – has been transformed by the surgery.

Rebecca Wooldridge has been cured of the type 1 diabetes she has suffered from since the age of 15 and would cause her blood sugar to fall so low she would lose consciousness twice a day.

The 37-year-old, who lives in Pembrokeshire, had the life- changing transplant in May 2009 and is recovering well.

“It’s not a quick fix,” Miss Wooldridge said. “But 20 months down the line everything is going very well.

“I have been to hell and back but I am very fortunate and you can’t even comprehend the gift of having another person’s organ.”

Miss Wooldridge was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes – which cannot be prevented and is treated by insulin injections – when she was 15.

But the disease became progressively more difficult to control despite her and her consultants’ efforts.

For no apparent reason her blood glucose levels fluctuated between dangerously low and high levels.

Known as “brittle diabetes” the uncontrollable blood sugar levels resulted in her developing serious complications including diabetic retinopathy, which can cause blindness, and nerve damage to her hands, feet and digestive system.

Miss Wooldridge temporarily lost the sight in her right eye and the nerve damage in her feet meant her legs could suddenly buckle without warning.

Meanwhile the nerve damage to her hands made her lose her sensitivity to temperature – she could pick up a scalding hot drink without realising it.

After years struggling with the condition and its complications, which forced her to give up work, Miss Wooldridge was referred for a transplant at the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff.

She said: “The symptoms of my hypos (low blood glucose levels) were getting fewer and far between and in the end I was passing out up to two times a day.

“I wasn’t safe on my own. It was very restrictive – I literally had to have my mother with me 24/7.

“My consultant said he had only seen a few others like me in all of his years.”

Miss Wooldridge had originally hoped to have an islet cells transplant, which replaces destroyed cells in the pancreas with cells harvested from donor pancreases.

But after more than a year waiting for a funding decision and with a three to five-year wait for the procedure, her deteriorating health meant she had a pancreas transplant instead.

Sole pancreas transplants are rare – patients with diabetes usually have a joint kidney and pancreas transplant.

Since having the transplant, Miss Wooldridge no longer needs insulin injections and the complications she developed as a result of diabetes have improved.

“It’s completely life-changing,” she said. “I don’t get the numbness in my feet, my legs no longer buckle under me and my hands are sensitive to temperature again.

“I now have the freedom to go out knowing I’m not going to pass out and that freedom is outstanding.

“By donating an organ you can give someone a life and improve their standard of living.”

Dai Williams, national director of Diabetes UK Cymru, which supports the Donate Wales campaign to increase the number of organ donors, said: “Transplant treatments have been shown to be effective for a number of people with diabetes who are struggling with their condition.

“Diabetes UK would encourage everyone to join the organ donor register and to let their relatives know about their intentions.”